USB FPGA evaluation kit slashes cost and speeds development of mobile devices
The kit allows engineers and system architects to rapidly evaluate and develop mobile solutions based on the company’s iCE40 mobileFPGA family, the world’s first and only FPGAs built to address the mobile devices market.
The kit speeds solution development by including, along with the FPGA, hardware features and reference designs targeting infrared and sensor functions for smartphones, tablets, gaming devices and a host of other applications that have demanding requirements for low-cost, low-power and fast-time-to-market.
Using the iCEstick Evaluation Kit, designers can implement a solution that replaces virtually any high-end remote control to interface to TVs, LED lighting systems or other infrared-controlled devices. Additionally, the iCEstick Evaluation Kit provides a simple starting point to design infrared data transfer between mobile devices such as PCs, tablets, gaming devices, and more. The iCEstick Evaluation Kit enables this by using the iCE40 FPGA to implement a fully programmable Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) function and bridge to an infrared LED.
To streamline and accelerate development, the kit includes reference designs that enable wireless transmission of data or control signals. This is done via an interface to an IrDA transceiver or a Digilent Pmod Compatible peripheral connector, all while using a minimal number of I/O from the iCE40 FPGA.
The iCEstick Evaluation Kit’s Pmod Compatible peripheral connector also enables designers to connect an accelerometer to the board so that designers can easily develop solutions for senor interfacing, monitoring and data management. The capability is key for mobile platforms as accelerometers are becoming more mainstream in mobile designs to facilitate measurement of speed and impact for context aware applications such as gaming controllers and smartphones.
Getting started with the iCEstick Evaluation Kit is easy because it simply connects to a laptop or PC like a USB thumb drive, giving users immediate access to the onboard iCE40HX-1k FPGA. The kit is supported by Lattice’s iCEcube2 design software for HDL development and Lattice Lattice Diamond Programmer software enabling programming via the device’s SPI flash.
iCEstick customers can download free reference designs that simplify the process of developing complete custom solutions. Along with the user guide, these reference designs are available at www.latticesemi.com/icestick and include:
Self-check default demo: Plugging in the iCEstick automatically configures and performs self-check which blinks the LEDs in a circular pattern. Customers can immediately validate the HDL design template and modify and add functionality as required.
IrDA Tx & Rx reference design: Simplifies the evaluation and development of a wide variety of applications involving wireless transmission of data or control signals.
Accelerometer reference design: This HDL design enables designers to evaluate how the iCE40 device can interface to a sensor using a separately-purchased accelerometer. This can be used as a starting point for integrating additional sensors for their particular requirements.
Availability and Pricing
The iCEstick evaluation kit is available now for purchase from Lattice distributors and costs $24.99.
More information about the iCEstick evaluation kit at www.latticesemi.com/icestick
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